Season 8 of Overwatch 2 has been formally unveiled, showing a landscape where our heroes are getting down and dirty to scrap with beasts. Call of the Hunt will bring a range of familiar looks to the game, borrowing heavily from amazing styles like Monster Hunter and jungle survivor aesthetics.
There is even a range of special weapon skins!
Mauga’s ready to answer the call. Are you?#Overwatch2 Season 8: Call of the Hunt launches TOMORROW 💥 pic.twitter.com/f4ZYW00Q8n
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) December 4, 2023
Beast Hunter skins adorn characters with pelts and trophies, which look right at home in the Overwatch art style. I particularly dig the Junker Queen skin, if only for how much it borrows from the Monster Hunter wardrobe – perhaps with a healthy seasoning of Aloy from the Horizon series. Special mention goes to Junkrat, who seems to have just slammed one of his bear traps on his head and called it a day. We also see some molten skins, for some reason? A lava-decked Mauga (yeah, he is coming out this season) and Moira also appear in the trailer with little fanfare. Curious.
Speaking of curiously cool, a whole new addition to the games cosmetic options is the introduction of Weapon Skins. Sure, in the past people could redeem their competitive points to get a gold version of a characters weapons, but these seem to be wholesale replacements of particular skins – showing Reaper, Reinhardt and Mercy holding brand new “Hard Light” weapons instead of their usual fare. They even make a special point of showing these unique models being held by a range of skins for these characters, really demonstrating that they exist as a separate cosmetic option. A cool feature if implemented well.
The hunt comes to a head with a new game mode, throwing two gigantic Beast Orisas into a pit to duke it out while lesser beast hunters try to survive around them. How does it work? Dunno – but I want to try it.
It’s a massive season, if only for how huge Mauga is; but I can’t complain with the plethora of stuff making its way into the game. What a great way to wrap up 2023 for Overwatch 2.
Are you keen to get into Season 8 and see all it has to offer? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
